Stocks recover after clarification on gain tax issue

After the year’s single-day sharpest fall, equity indices of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s premier bourse, recovered with a big jump on Wednesday after the clarification by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) over the gain tax issue.

The NBR said the existing tax exemption from individual investors’ capital gains from secondary share investments will remain in place in the upcoming fiscal as before.

Earlier, Dhaka stocks on Tuesday suffered the current year’s steepest single-day crash, as investors became nervous following the speculation over the imposition of capital gain tax on investments in the secondary market.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, jumped 22.8 points or 0.36 per cent to settle at 6,338 against 6,316 in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, added 0.47 points cent to close at 2,189, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, rose 3.0 points to 1,375.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, plummeted by 28 per cent to Tk 782 crore against the tally of Tk 1,087 crore in the previous session.

The life insurance sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 23.0 per cent of the total turnover of the DSE, followed by food and allied (11.3 per cent) and general insurance (10.7 per cent).

Meghna Life Insurance was the yesterday’s turnover leader with Tk 58 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Intraco Refueling Station (Tk 38 crore), and Rupali Life Insurance (Tk 28 crore).

A buying dominance prevailed throughout the session as the previous day’s sharp correction in the majority of scrips created a bargain hunting opportunity for opportunistic investors, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Cautious investors, however, preferred to remain watchful and monitor the market momentum, evident from the decrease in market participation, it added.

Most sectors displayed positive returns, with the general insurance witnessing the highest gain of 5.1 per cent, followed by life insurance (4.0 per cent) and cement (0.7 per cent).

On the other hand, the jute faced the highest correction of 0.8 per cent, followed by travel (0.5 per cent).

Bangas Ltd topped the gainers’ chart of the DSE with a return of 10 per cent, while Simtex Industries was the day’s worst sufferer with a loss of 6.8 per cent.

Out of the issues traded, 123 advanced, 46 declined and 223 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain, with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX) and the all-share price index (CASPI) – advanced by 18.5 points and 35.8 points respectively.